What the end of the war in Afghanistan means to one mother and her family
National Geographic, August 2022
A year after U.S. troops pulled out of its longest war, National Geographic revisits an Afghan mother featured on the cover and her family’s experience offers a glimpse of life under Taliban rule.
As Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis deepens, its young people step up
National Geographic, March 2022
Afghans are giving food to the hungry, clothes to the needy, and medical care to the sick: ‘I just wish I could work at night, too.'
‘Our children are hungry’: economic crisis pushes Afghans to desperation
The Guardian September 2021
Afghans forced to sell possessions on streets of Mazar-e-Sharif as fragile economy buckles under instability
Talking to the Taliban: Qatar peace summit lays bare the huge challenges ahead
The Times of London, October 2020
The heady optimism that kick-started the Afghan go
“Why wouldn’t I be scared?”
BBC Radio 4, January 2020
The 18 year Afghan conflict has killed tens of thousands of Afghans, more than 2,400 American troops and cost the US around $900 billion. President Donald Trump has often said he wants to remove the estimated 13,000 U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan. That would leave more of the fight against the Taliban to the Afghan security forces. But in Helmand Province Nanna Muus Steffensen found that Afghan soldiers and police are already suffering devastating casualties.
Most of this Afghan family was killed or injured in a U.S. airstrike
NBC News, December 2018
Ehsanullah, 14, was missing parts of his face and skull when he was rushed into the emergency room. His left eyeball was crushed, his right eye missing, his forehead an open wound. He cried out as a doctor pressed gauze over his head, the material quickly turning dark red. “They wanted to hit the Taliban, but they bombed us instead,” said the boy’s mother.
There is one God. His army is Turkish
BBC Radio 4, July 2018
BBC World Service, July 2018
Nanna Muus Steffensen crosses the Turkish border into Syria to try and find out how the people of Afrin are faring since Kurdish fighters were forced out by Turkish troops and Syrian rebels.
Should I stay or should I go?
BBC Radio 4, April 2017
When Maryam’s family set out to reach Europe, she decided to stay in Afghanistan. But after the Taleban attack on her university, Maryam is no longer sure she made the right decision.
Celebrating in purple
BBC Radio 4, May 2017
Purple was the signature colour of President Rouhani’s re-election campaign in Iran and, following his victory, Nanna Muus Steffensen finds it everywhere; purple glitter, headbands, t-shirts, even hair dye.